sdiamond's Profile

Just came back from Cilantro with 4 tacos, 2 asada and 2 carnitas. The carnitas looks incredible-each piece of pork spans the entire taco. It's not chopped up any more than it has to be, but unfortunately the flavor doesn't match the appearance. It's rather bland.

The asada? DAMN. Best f-ing asada I've had in the area. Better than El Gran Burrito, better than that truck over by the 101 that Bandini loves, better than Taco Zone on Echo Park (which pains me to say....I love that asada). I haven't finished my food yet-one bite and I had to get on Chowhound to see what was up about this place. I will now return to my remaining orgasmic asada taco.

This one is all about the patty. More specifically, all about the CHAR.

Lots of these threads tend to focus on toppings. For now, forget toppings. Which patty in the LA area has the best char? I'm talking thick crust on a juicy patty. I'm talking about feeling it crunch. No soft squishy patties here (a la Father's Office). Let's talk char.

I was thinking Kefi yesterday, but I found some pretty divisive comments about it on another thread (which, of course, I can't find now). Also, the veggie options don't seem too strong. Thanks for the suggestions though-I'll totally check out all those places. Remember, we aren't tied to the UWS-just where we are staying. We'd be willing to go anywhere on Manhattan or reasonably deep into Brooklyn for the perfect place.

So my group of 8-10 people are looking for a place to eat this Friday night (the 26th). We will be staying at 88th and Amsterdam, but a little bit (or a lot) of travel is not a issue.

Biggest hangup: varied tastes. We have a couple very adventurous omnivores, some adventurous vegetarians, some non-adventurous omnivores, yada yada yada. We need a place that can satisfy everybody. Flavor is a bigger emphasis than creativity, but creativity is nice, too. In addition, one of us is going to Southeast Asia the next day, so New American is preferred, and Indian/Thai/Vietnamese etc. is not.

(Of what I've found, Recipe seems to have a great menu for us...but we would take up half the restaurant)

Budget: entrees $20-$30. A little less atmosphere with a little lower price is totally OK, not much leeway on the higher end, though.